On The Trail: Pence’s knives come out

The Hill logoVice President Pence has spent three decades in public life selling his brand of orthodox Republicanism through calm and reserved gentility. He is conservative, he likes to say, but he is not angry about it.

But Pence, who once wrote an essay forswearing negative campaign tactics, has always harbored a sharper edge, an attack dog who only occasionally bares his fangs. And as polls show Pence’s boss trailing, the vice president has increasingly snapped at critics and even some erstwhile allies.

This past week, Pence lashed out at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), one of the harshest critics of the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. In an appearance on Laura Ingraham’s show on Fox News, Pence blamed Cuomo for some of the 32,000 New Yorkers who have died from COVID-19. Continue reading.